Darndale FC faces a period of “great uncertainty.”
Club chairperson John Lyons told the Northside People that as a result of FAI’s governance, the club has been left with nowhere to play next season.
The club took part in the NDS (North Dublin Schools Leagues), but the league has now merged with the NERL (North Eastern Regional League).
As a result, the club is in what Lyons calls a “state of limbo”, and the club is now facing “a time of great uncertainty.”
The season, which isn’t due to kick off until next spring, could be the first in 50 years to not have a Darndale FC, and the club has informed players they are free to play for other clubs.
Lyons, who also sits on Dublin City Council as a member of the Independent Left, explained that the FAI’s “utter absence” and “misadministration of grassroots football” has put the club on the brink.
‘As a public representative and chairperson of Darndale FC, I have been appalled by not only the administration of grassroots football in Ireland but by the lack of support, guidance and direction from the FAI Ireland.”
The Artane-Whitehall councillor said, “the last couple of months have been incredibly difficult as the club’s very hard-working committee has been pushed from pillar to post when trying to secure a competitive league for its players to play in next season.”
Lyons explained that Darndale FC has been playing since 1976, and in that time has provided “healthy sporting, social opportunities for the young people of the community.”
He said it was “unconscionable” that a club, which has served as a community resource for all these years, is now at risk of falling through the cracks owing to the FAI’s misgovernance and a league merger.
As of Friday afternoon, Lyons said there was no response from the FAI despite reaching out to them and seeking a resolution to the issue.
“To not get a response is galling,” he said.
“I’d have thought that if we reached out to the FAI to get an answer, we would have gotten some response, but there has been nothing,” he said.
Lyons said, “I have had the honour of representing the communities of Darndale, Coolock, Donaghmede, Kilbarrack and Kilmore West for the last decade and a half and have seen firsthand the vitally important role local football clubs play in their community, and how valuable a contribution is made by clubs’ volunteer coaches and committee members to the well-being of their communities.”
“The very least clubs deserve is transparent football governance and support when required,” he said.
Independent Left councillor John Lyons
Lyons said that the community has always faced an uphill battle owing to what he calls “state neglect” and “structurally imposed disadvantage, poverty and marginalisation alongside inadequate infrastructure and limited access to services.”
“For more than 50 years now the football club has been providing the young people of the area with an opportunity to play and train, to socialise, make friends, learn life lessons as they progress through their young lives. That is some achievement,” he stated.
Lyons said the way the club has been treated – being excluded by grassroots football administrators – is “sickening” and said that the club has been “abandoned” by the FAI.
“There is this sense we have been excluded by the FAI,” he said, saying that clubs did not want to play “beyond exit 5 of the M1.”
Lyons explained that the club is a “source of pride” for the local area, and said the principle of it – that they are a local club that represents a specific area of Dublin but are in limbo owing to administrative action – has left him “gobsmacked.”
Lyons said that he and other committee members were engaging with the FAI, and are pressing for a solution to the issue.
Lyons thanked other local clubs, such as Kilmore Celtic, who offered to help out with the situation, and even one club from Belfast which offered to travel down to Dublin to play a game.
“For now, this is where the club is at: we are telling our young players that we don’t have a competitive league for them to play in next season, which is a shocking indictment of all those responsible for football in Ireland at the grassroots level,” he said.
“We met with the new league and parents and decided we would be willing to travel so that the kids would have a league. We were told we were welcome to join and we were making plans to start, BUT the league informed us that they had a meeting and they would not travel past exit 5 on the motorway to us,” the club stated.
“We also spoke to the DDSL (Dublin and District Schools League), but they refused to grant us entry as we only have two teams and they only take five teams or more.”
Per the club, the NDSL league joined the NERL but said the whole affair was “underhanded.”
They said that the leagues had no interest in taking in Darndale FC, despite “taking our money for 50 years.”
“They are disgraceful, and the FAI are as bad; they have done nothing to help us even though they are the governing body for grassroots football.”
Like Lyons’ statement, the club stated that the FAI have done “nothing” to help.
The club said that “the FAI were to get back to us last week and there was nothing but radio silence from them.”
“So much for grassroots football; they could not care less,” they remarked.
“For this year, the club is taking a break and will come back again fighting for the kids in this community to play again even stronger than we were,” the club said.
The club stated, “the fight goes on, and we are not giving up on this club.”
“We are going to keep fighting for our children. We will keep them playing even if it’s only friendly matches and winter training in the hall.”